As the popularity of video cassette recorders (VCRs) has spread, many users have amassed extensive libraries of recordings, representing a wide range of program materials collected over an extended period of time. In most cases, users are faced with the alternative of either maintaining detailed records as to the contents of individual tapes, or sorting through an entire collection until a desired tape is found. Since the rigorous cataloging of tapes has little appeal to users, most users simply resort to notes affixed to individual cassettes, or they write descriptive information on a tape label. However, once the number of tapes in a library exceeds ten or fifteen units, this method for marking becomes unmanageable. Moreover, in the future, new, more compact, video recording media, such as smaller cassettes, magnetic disks, and recordable optical discs or “videodiscs,” are likely to make such marking methods increasingly impractical.